Question about twin rail psu's

[Rik]

Has anyone that knows what they are doing opened one up and examined it closely?

Are they truly twin rail, as in, is there 2 entirely separately regulated rails?

And are they worth the extra cost?

Does anyone have any useful pic's to demonstrate the difference?

 

[kangaruffian]

Hmm that is tricky one..there is truly twin rails but also separately rails or mix.. but I dont see any diffrents in real life.. i own one single 12v 36A and one two rail 2x 12v 18A/18A psus.. READ this: http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?threadid=62977

I think it is 4 safety reasons.. (my guess) thats what i heard about this (rules&regulations)

 

[kangaruffian]

And yes those large Capacitors inside the PSU could have enough voltage stored in them to KILL YOU! (just warning kids to mess with their PSU)

 

[Rik]

Ok thanx for the info, i was beginning to suspect it was more of a gimmic than anything useful.

 

[kangaruffian]

yea those two separately lines doesn't boost anything.. thats what i know.. also some DFI mobo users (heavy overclockers) has some shutdown troubles with 2 rail PSUs they recommend one huge single rail PSUs.. thats what i heard from them

 

[kirock]

Two rails have it's advantage and disadvantage.
Good: You can connect the CPU to one and the video card and HDD's to the other. This divides the load more effectively.

Bad: If the amps on either rail are a little low a really high end CPU (AMD dual core and the FX series and the newer P4 3.2GHz) can overload either rail.

Why manufactures do it: It's actually cheaper to build 2X18A outputs then it is to build 1X36A output. For example a FET that can drive 20Amps might cost $5-10, but a FET that can handle 40Amps will cost $25.

IMO for a high end CPU and graphics card you're best to stick with a single high current 12Volt output supply. For a more moderate system, but with lots of HDD and DVD's etc, probably best to go with a dual 12V PSU.

Cheers.